Higher Education Online Crime Mapping Site Expands

Sep 29, 2008

UCrime.com, a crime mapping and alert service for colleges and universities, recently announced the addition of 100 more schools to the list of those it covers. The new crime data includes that on York University, Canada. With the new additions, UCrime.com now provides accurate data in near-real time on 200 colleges and universities in North America.

“We have had tremendous response since we launched the site in August, with over 50,000 unique page views,” said Colin Drane, CEO of UCrime.com. “Requests to add data on additional schools have poured in from around the country, and even from Canada. We will continue to add new colleges and universities to meet demand for this vital information.”

The service is free to members of the public. It allows students, parents, administrators, public safety officials and others to view reported crime activity on an easy to use map. Information is available on the date, time, event type and location of a crime. Users can sign up to receive alerts automatically via email if a crime occurs near a selected school or schools. Alerts can be sent to desktop computers and mobile devices, including iPhones. UCrime.com is also available on Facebook.

Information on UCrime.com is obtained through police departments, daily newspapers and other publicly available sources. The site incorporates social networking technology to enable users to comment on particular crimes.

“We look forward to further development of UCrime.com’s user involvement capabilities and contributions,” Drane said. “It’s a powerful way to assist the work of campus security forces and municipal police departments in solving and, most important, preventing crime.”